Seniors lead Moscow to win at Timberlake

Moscow High School football coach Doug Fisher says his Bears are just where he wants them to be at this early point in the season.

Where they were Friday night was at Timberlake in Spirit Lake, and what they were doing was handling the young Tigers 41-14 in a non-league payback played before an estimated 300 fans.

Moscow (2-0) got huge games from a trio of seniors. Running back Phil Helbling rushed for 91 yards and three touchdowns, quarterback Kelly Otto threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns – both to Aaron Gardes – on strikes of 48 and 29 yards.

Fisher said his team took what Timberlake (1-1) gave them.

“They loaded up on the inside, and our running game didn’t click as well as it did last week,” Fisher said. “But the pass was OK at times and we got some big plays on them.

“We’re pretty happy with where we we are right now – last year was a pretty long year for us.”

Indeed, the Tigers had their way at Moscow last season.

But graduation plays some ugly tricks, as Timberlake coach Roy Albertson can attest.

“Moscow was all juniors last year,” Albertson said.

“Now we’re mostly sophomores and juniors – that’s just the way it goes.

“I saw some good things from our guys tonight, though – we had a nice goal-line stand at the end of the first half; and those are things we can definitely build on.”

The Bears held the Tigers to 52 yards of total offense and forced a pair of fumbles in the first half.

Sophomore quarterback Levi Powers led Timberlake in rushing with 46 yards on seven carries.